The new microfinance technologies that have proven successful in urban areas
are not likely to improve access to small deposits and small loans for the poor in rural
Argentina. Microfinance works best for households who have diverse sources of income
and who thus can repay even if a project fails. Most small farmers in Argentina are not
this diversified. Few rural households have non-farm employment. Furthermore, the
effects on cost of sparse populations and long distances are more severe in rural
Argentina than in other places where rural microfinance has had some success.